Knowle: Thousands sign petition to save Jubilee Pool

More than 4,000 people have signed a petition to save a swimming pool which faces closure.

Bristol City Council said Jubilee Pool in Knowle could be closed because of a £230,000 maintenance bill.

Lib Dem members say the facility made a small profit before lockdown and the council was using the maintenance costs to push the closure through.

The city's mayor said he had not ruled out letting the local community run the pool.

A consultation on the future of the council-owned pool has begun, but Liberal Democrat councillor Gary Hopkins, whose ward the pool is in, said the council had been planning to close the facility "for years".

He said: "The mayor's plan to close down this valuable local asset, that is so positive for health and wellbeing in south Bristol is totally unacceptable."

Campaign groups successfully fought off closure plans in 2011, when it was proposed to sell Jubilee Pool, built in 1937, to help pay for the PFI-funded £32m Hengrove Park Leisure Centre, and again in 2017.

Mr Hopkins said Parkwood Leisure, who run Jubilee Pool, were making a small profit before the coronavirus pandemic, and the council's own reports show the facility had no significant health and safety issues.

He added: "A figure of £230,000 has been used to frighten residents into submitting but that is in line with what is already being spent on other pools and sports halls around Bristol, including much newer ones."

Bristol mayor Marvin Rees said if locals could come up with a plan to run the pool, the council might even help them.

"There's a lot of passion around the pool and if we can come up with a way of making it work then actually we might be able to support the community to run the pool," he said.

But he added the council was struggling after 10 years of austerity and that the "top quality" Hengrove pool was only a mile and a half from Jubilee Pool.

Parkwood Leisure has been contacted by the BBC for comment.